Wednesday, April 11, 2012

With the polls now closed, a group of Korean politicians who came together to form an electoral coalition under the banner of the Unethical Alliance Party look set to sweep to a landslide victory in the Korean elections which took place today.

While the results have been anxiously anticipated, in the end only one group mounted any serious challenge to the UAP. The surprise late entry into the race came from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, which immediately went negative by attacking the populist spending promises of UAP politicians. But the Ministry had to withdraw its candidature from the elections, after the National Election Commission said it was ineligible to stand.

Despite the broad coalition under the Unethical Alliance Party banner, there were still some hotly contested races held between multiple UAP candidates fighting in the same constituencies, although police did break up several fights before they became too violent. UAP leaders said that in the absence of any serious challengers, it was important to honor the democratic process and allow people to choose what kind of unethical leaders they wanted.

This was the first major election in which overseas absentee voting was permitted, but political analysts say it has ultimately played little part in determining the outcome. The biggest block of overseas Korean voters had been expected to send in their absentee ballots by rocket, but reports say its fueling was not completed in time.

Other Koreans who missed out on voting include many male Korean Wave stars, who became American citizens to avoid military service - and are therefore ineligible to vote, and Korean military forces posted overseas to countries such as Afghanistan - lawmakers had originally promised them the vote, but then decided to break the promise fearing they might vote to come home. UAP officials said the situation with the Korean military overseas was unfortunate, but if the UAP hadn't broken its promise, it would not be living up to its principles. Welcoming their victory, UAP leaders promised more broken promises in the months ahead.

The elections had been closely watched as an indicator on how the public would probably vote in December's presidential elections. The UAP landslide now seems to indicate Korea is likely to put an Unethical candidate in Korea's highest office next year. Political and business leaders have already welcomed the continuity of leadership this is likely to provide.